Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

Disaster: Factory catches fire trapping workers. (Pre-image of 9/11.)
Date: March 25,1911
Deaths: 145
Lesson Learned: 1. Owners must take responsibility for their workers.
                              2. All buildings have to meet fire regulations.

Interesting Fact: "Within 18 minutes, 145 lay dead" (History.com)

In the early 20th century in New York City, rights for workers were very few. Many factory employees were young women and children working long hours in bad conditions and with little pay. History Channel claims that each worker would receive $15 per week after working 12 hours everyday. Due to the bad conditions many people (especially women) protested for workers rights. In order to prevent protests managers locked doors at work. Including the Triangle Factory.

On a Saturday afternoon just before the work day was over, a cigarette or pipe was tossed in a rag bin catching fire. A manager, notified by one of the 600 workers, threw a pail of water over the bin, but the fire had already gotten out of control. Panicked workers (on the eighth floor) ran for the exits leaving the building. A lady on the eighth floor called up to the tenth floor yelling "Fire! Fire!" The operator quickly went to notify the tenth floor never giving the news to the ninth floor.

Exits were limited with doors either locked or impassable, a fire escape and one operational elevator. Some women took the fire escape which collapsed under their weight killing a dozen women. Others went down a staircase that proved to be impassable trapping them. All 49 women in the stair case were buried alive. Not long after, the fire reached the elevator (on the fourth trip) closing the last possibility for escape. Women started jumping when then knew their sentence was death. Three people at a time jumped from the ninth floor making a big thud sound as they hit the ground. They were killed instantly.

The whole event took less than one hour.

The owner Max Blanck was questioned and ordered to spend five days in the slammer or pay $20. The article 100 Years Ago: Triangle Shirtwaist Fire describes Blanck's reaction. “He smiled, pulled out a ‘roll’ of money as thick as his arm, peeled off a $20 bill and walked off.”

History.com sums up the whole disaster in the following sentence "The tragedy brought widespread attention to the dangerous sweatshop conditions of factories, and led to the development of a series of laws and regulations that better protected the safety of workers."

Pre-Image of 9/11
The reason why this fire was a pre-image of 9/11 is because many workers on high floors were trapped as the fire spread throughout the building. Firefighter ladders could not reach the floor and finally people started jumping as their last option. This event also occurred in New York City. Due to the disaster being on a Saturday afternoon people were out strolling enjoying the outdoors when they witnessed the horror.

Info from:
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/triangle-shirtwaist-fire-in-new-york-city
http://www.history.com/news/2011/03/24/100-years-ago-the-triangle-shirtwaist-fire/